[quote="Bayou Tribe"]Everyone in the league is a "potential injury issue" if you want to get into semantics. The pick is top 5 protected, so it's not like its gonna net them Wiggins or Smart. I'm all for it, give me the proven guy who'se locked in for 4 more years.[/quote]

Kyrie has played more than twice as many games as Eric Gordon over the last two years. That's not a potential injury issue compared to most players.

Any of the picks 5-10 would have competed for number 1 this year. For a team that wasn't going anywhere with Holiday.

I kinda liked the Crabbe pick. A lot of folks had him going in the 1st round if I recall. Kinda sorry to see him go. SI has Felix with a rating of a 1.5 on a 10-point scale, by far the lowest rated player drafted in the 1st 46 picks. They say he's an elite defender, though.

Shocked we drafted no C's in a draft that had a ton of 6'11+ post people.

"The nose of the bulldog has been slanted backwards so that he can breathe without letting go." -- Winston Churchill

OldDawg wrote:I kinda liked the Crabbe pick. A lot of folks had him going in the 1st round if I recall. Kinda sorry to see him go. SI has Felix with a rating of a 1.5 on a 10-point scale, by far the lowest rated player drafted in the 1st 46 picks. They say he's an elite defender, though.

Shocked we drafted no C's in a draft that had a ton of 6'11+ post people.

I watched a ton of Bynum play in LA and I know he's not a winner. Please no. Great physical skills, zero motor, zero motivation, zero attitude. Run away. RUN away.

Go grab a one year vet 3 and use you tax space to acquire picks. You'll have a decent team...maybe a playoff team...and then you can use all your picks to move up next year and grab your big. And maybe you -know - who will return to grab that wide open 3 slot.

I think this draft can be described as the best of a bad situation. If Noel is physically questionable then Bennett probably has the highest upside of any prospect. And teh cavs definately need upside more than anything. As constituted they aren't anywhere near good enough to even potantially make any push. If bennett hits upside, they have a shot if Kyrie can ever stay healthy and Waiters can develop.

Sergey ? IDK. Have to see if he can D at all and get his shot off. We'll see. same with any Euro.

My biggest disappointment was the dealing of Crabbe. I thought potentially he would have contributed to a nice 3 guard rotation and given us some shooting. I don't understand this whole "no 4 rookies" line.

Best part of the entire draft was Bebe's hair and little sundae cup hat on top of it, McLemore's shout out to an imprisoned brother and Karasevs absolutely ignoring any question a frightened and stunned Shane battier asked and just riffing on whatever the fuck he wanted in broken, incomprehensible english.

What a great draft.

And then it all took a back seat to HooDoo's story board.

I like the Bennett pick and the Karasev pick. I liked the Crabbe pick for 12 seconds til learning he was dealt. And I have no idea why you don't keep a kid like that who has in-the-gym range. If for nothing else as insurance on the non-english speaking white russian you just drafted.

The more I read about Bennett the more I like the pick. Wth Brown being a defensive coach and, um, struggling on offense it does make some sense to get players who can score all by their lonesome. Maybe Mike will be able to coach em up to respectability before he has a nervous breakdown.

Bennett...a bit of an undersized fat guy who can score. Barkley? That's my expert analysis after watching him play for zero minutes and reading a couple things about him.

It just appears to be the most open spot in the starting lineup, and we were supposedly in the mix to deal for him last year, weren't we?

If Bennet was a win-now pick, Bennet + Bynum is a win-right-the-fuck-now offseason.

What does Dan Gilbert want more? To hold onto that cap space and risk getting jilted at the altar again by Bron? Or to try to get a big who might even give Miami some matchup problems in the playoffs, bwa ha ha ha?

It just appears to be the most open spot in the starting lineup, and we were supposedly in the mix to deal for him last year, weren't we?

If Bennet was a win-now pick, Bennet + Bynum is a win-right-the-fuck-now offseason.

What does Dan Gilbert want more? To hold onto that cap space and risk getting jilted at the altar again by Bron? Or to try to get a big who might even give Miami some matchup problems in the playoffs, bwa ha ha ha?

I know people hate this kind of stuff, but I think we do need some role vets to show these kids what time it is given MB as coach. Even if it means overpaying them some. But Bynum sure as hell ain't that guy.

peeker643 wrote: I liked the Crabbe pick for 12 seconds til learning he was dealt. And I have no idea why you don't keep a kid like that who has in-the-gym range. If for nothing else as insurance on the non-english speaking white russian you just drafted.

Dittoe. It doesn't make sense. I know he's a 2nd rounder and odds are this isn't the end of the world, but visions of Dell Curry and Danny Green are dancing in my head.

A rotation of Kyrie-Waiters, Waiters-Crabbe and Kyrie-carrick makes too much sense.

Last edited by jb on Fri Jun 28, 2013 10:17 am, edited 1 time in total.

motherscratcher wrote:The more I read about Bennett the more I like the pick. Wth Brown being a defensive coach and, um, struggling on offense it does make some sense to get players who can score all by their lonesome. Maybe Mike will be able to coach em up to respectability before he has a nervous breakdown.

Bennett...a bit of an undersized fat guy who can score. Barkley? That's my expert analysis after watching him play for zero minutes and reading a couple things about him.

I'm not sure that there will never be another Barkley. He was 2-3 inches shorter than Bennett and still had him by 30 pounds even on Bennett's fattest day. But if he can rebound and score at 75% of Barkley's level while playing at least average D, I would definitely take it.

---"It was great training being there. They do it with character and intelligence. They run that organization the right way. They build through the draft. They're patient. It's just the right way to do it. It was a tremendous opportunity to be with them." Jimmy Haslam on why he'd model the Browns after the Steelers, 10/16/12

motherscratcher wrote:The more I read about Bennett the more I like the pick. Wth Brown being a defensive coach and, um, struggling on offense it does make some sense to get players who can score all by their lonesome. Maybe Mike will be able to coach em up to respectability before he has a nervous breakdown.

Bennett...a bit of an undersized fat guy who can score. Barkley? That's my expert analysis after watching him play for zero minutes and reading a couple things about him.

I'm not sure that there will never be another Barkley. He was 2-3 inches shorter than Bennett and still had him by 30 pounds even on Bennett's fattest day. But if he can rebound and score at 75% of Barkley's level while playing at least average D, I would definitely take it.

It just appears to be the most open spot in the starting lineup, and we were supposedly in the mix to deal for him last year, weren't we?

If Bennet was a win-now pick, Bennet + Bynum is a win-right-the-fuck-now offseason.

What does Dan Gilbert want more? To hold onto that cap space and risk getting jilted at the altar again by Bron? Or to try to get a big who might even give Miami some matchup problems in the playoffs, bwa ha ha ha?

I know people hate this kind of stuff, but I think we do need some role vets to show these kids what time it is given MB as coach. Even if it means overpaying them some. But Bynum sure as hell ain't that guy.

bookelly wrote:All of whom were hurt. I'm glad they stayed away from the bigs.

Not entirely sold if Noel dropped due to injury concerns, even if I jokingly referenced Greg Oden yesterday. The more I think on how he dropped past Len and Zeller, the more I think the greater concern was his inability to find the basket if you spotted him a stepladder and a pair of scissors. Oh, and that the Pelicans completely rolled the Sixers on the trade.

"The fucking Who...... If I want to watch old people run around ill go set fire to a nursing home." - CDT

This team has a billion question marks right now and could end up a complete and utter disaster.

Priority one has to be getting some semblance of vet leadership in to avoid the problems that showed up last year. They also have to hope Speights doesn't take his option or the logjam at PF is going to be really fugly and Speights will just pout around all year.

That all said, they should at least be fun to watch.

TT over Vala hangs dreadfully over this franchise though, that much is undeniable.

e0y2e3 wrote:I still don't understand how Biyombo was worse in his second year, but yeah that's a bust. And that's a bust that prevented them from drafting Noel.

Rather have Vala than TT for sure.

I just don't think that is THE move that makes r breaks us in hindsight. i don't see Vala as anything more than an OK starting center. This roster is still coming together and we can get That Guy.

While TT makes me sick he was 4th overall, I still like the idea of Roker having interchangable parts. I watch games & coaches put in rotations where I say WTF and next thing I know teams are on runs. I don't see TT as toast with Bennett as another 4. I see TT as having some value depending on the rotation. They have different skill sets.

I just don't see TT over vala as the thing we'll point back to one day like the harper trade.

Meh, athletic 7 footers that can defend, have soft hands and can run the pick and pop are one of the hardest things to find. If Len had shown any kind of ability to use his skill set in college he would have went #1 for that reason.

If they find that guy, gawd bless them, but it is really hard to do and Vala would just fit this roster like a damn glove. That's my main point.

Side note: Trey Burke rookie of the year is in the bag. Michigan Glory.

After reading as much as I could today, I'm now convinced that the Cavs could draft Amanda Bynes and the media around here would call it a savvy move. I guess I missed the part where Thompson and Waiters became these magical trump cards that validate any move this guy makes. They were weird picks in the 4th spot in the draft who are decent players so far, let's throw a parade. I'd love to poll the other 29 GM's in the league and ask if they'd trade Thompson and Waiters for Valanciunas and Barnes. Bennett could end up really good, I obviously hope he is, and this draft sucked, but lets stop pretending this was some brilliant dark horse move. He's a tweener who's 30 pounds overweight and plays no defense. Call me crazy, but I'm thinking a #1 pick shouldn't have that many question marks.

"Well then I guess there's only one thing left to do...win the whole, f***in', thing."- Jake Taylor

e0y2e3 wrote:Vala's game improved dramatically over the course of last year and as he finally started getting legit minutes.

Post allstar break he was 11 and 7 w/ 1.5 blocks and shot 58%. In April he was 15 and 6 w/ 2.4 blocks when he finally hit 30min a game. HIs per 48min stats were 18 and 12 w/ 2.5 blocks as a rookie....

TT in his second season had per 48 stats of 18 and 14.5 w/ 1.3 blocks a game in his second season, was a pretty bad defender too.

Vala shot 56% and 78% from the line and is physical and showed better defense than TT ever has. Looks like he'll grow into a legit rim defender.

TT shot 49% and 60%.

At the end of the day TT looks like he'll be a solid NBA player, but Vala looks like he'll be a solid at worst 7 foot center that can bang and defend and the later is one of the harder assets to find.

TT should have trade value though, just not sure how much.

Its clear the league thinks TT is still shit, based on the trade rumors floated out there. Cavs definitely value TT and Dion a lot more than the rest of the league does.

I dont think TT is that terrible of a defender, and i'll bet he looks a whole lot better in Browns system. Also, having Zeller on the floor completely losing his man and looking more lost than a homeless guy at the casino wouldn't hurt. Wouldn't be surprised to see some him get a lot of run 5 and Bennett at the 4. Slide him out to the 4 with Zeller to play the stretch.

He didn't look too bad playing there before, and he's apparently grown a bit since he was drafted.

Check me out at Dawgsbynature, where I write stuff, or @twitter as Josh Finney.

Kingpin74 wrote:After reading as much as I could today, I'm now convinced that the Cavs could draft Amanda Bynes and the media around here would call it a savvy move. I guess I missed the part where Thompson and Waiters became these magical trump cards that validate any move this guy makes. They were weird picks in the 4th spot in the draft who are decent players so far, let's throw a parade. I'd love to poll the other 29 GM's in the league and ask if they'd trade Thompson and Waiters for Valanciunas and Barnes. Bennett could end up really good, I obviously hope he is, and this draft sucked, but lets stop pretending this was some brilliant dark horse move. He's a tweener who's 30 pounds overweight and plays no defense. Call me crazy, but I'm thinking a #1 pick shouldn't have that many question marks.

Trust, lots of the Cleveland media shit on the move, too. Vanilla Twithers is still pitching a fit about them passing on McLemore. Look at the social media response on the CPD, it's not universal praise.

They took a guy with legitimately polished offense in the hopes that he gives a shit about defense, in the future. Since his future burn will depend on it, I'll bet we find out quickly if its lateral quickness or effort that he lacked. His wingspan will definitely help him with it.

Every pick, 1-6, had major question marks. A lot of people thought McLemore was the best pick, and he went 7th. There just wasn't a consensus top guy, they all had warts.....and to be honest, with Browns deficiencies as a play caller, i'll take the guy who knows what he's doing out there and doesn't need plays called for him to score over the guy who needs to learn and develop.

Waiters and TT both got better, and were surprises based on the pick. TT went from black hole of suck to league average (at 20, with room to grow) and Waiters had a pretty solid second half of the season. Barnes might be better, but again, need more data to see what he's capable of. Either way, they both show the capability.

Check me out at Dawgsbynature, where I write stuff, or @twitter as Josh Finney.